Developing Inductive Categories using
the Creative Coding Tool
Introduction: when should you use CreativeCoding?
• After initial inductive coding work has been done,• When you are ready to re-organise or re-structure your coding scheme, to create
new groupings of existing codes, including higher-level concepts.
• This tool is more visual and intuitive than simply dragging codes around in theCode System window.
• This tool works with whole codes, together with all of their data segments.
• Start Creative Coding from the Codes Menu.

Before exploring this set of tools in a live project please make sure that you havemade a backup copy and used the option to open the backup and work in that, sothat your master project is safe from unintended changes.

Starting the Creative Coding Tool:
I will work with an example based on the English language "Work Life Balance"
example project available in MAXQDA 2024. The standard example has been
modified by the addition of some detailed coding work on the section of eachinterview about a "Typical workday". Below is a screenshot of part of the Code
System before a Creative Coding session has begun:- The "Typical workday" code now has
17 subcodes, identifying a range ofactivities mentioned by the respondents.
- I will use Creative Coding to groupthese, as a way to identify higher-level
concepts behind them.

The menu option Codes > Creative Coding opens a new window on top of your main
workspace and freezes all other functions while it is in use.
Initially, the function window contains an instruction telling you to drag in all of thecodes you want to organize. This is a one-off opportunity for each session, once you
click on the button to "Start Organizing Codes" in the menu bar you will be unable
to add any more existing codes to this session. Until you start organizing you can
add or remove codes as much as you like (use a context menu to remove unwantedcodes). I dragged in the whole group of "Typical workday" codes in one operation as
subcodes automatically come in with their parent codes.

When you are satisfied that you have all the necessary codes, click on "Start
Organizing Codes" in the Start menu. The screen changes to remove the CodeSystem panel on the left, and more menu options appear in the ribbon above.

The "creative" stage:
You are now ready to restructure this particular bundle of codes in any way that you
like. The only limit is your own imagination. You can create new codes to act asheaders/holders for sub-groups of codes and these may well come to be yourhigher-level concepts. Here we will explore the mechanics of the tool.
There are two modes of operation, normal and linking modes. In the normal mode
you can drag objects around the map. In linking mode you can create parent/subcode
relationships by dragging an arrow from one code to another. These modes are set
with the "Link (Define as Subcode)" button on the toolbar, this changes to a subtly
darker black when you are in linking mode.
Start in normal mode by dragging the code symbols around to explore how theymight be grouped by similarities that could be relevant to your research aims. By
using the "Overview of Coded Segments" option in the right-click context menu forany one code, you can go back to the source texts to remind yourself of the details
behind the code labels. You even have AI Assist options in those context menus tosummarise the coded segments or suggest subcodes. And you can open the code
memo to check any notes or summaries you have already made and stored there.

This additional information available via the context menus can be really helpful as
you look for connections and similarities between some of the codes you areorganizing. You are not simply dragging abstract ideas around, you are organizing
evidence.
If you are lucky, (or possibly very clever) you will start to see various groupings foryour data so drag the symbols near to each other to reflect these developing ideas.Here is my first, tentative, exploration of this data. To the left, I have placed several
themes that appear to relate to work, in the middle are ideas that seem more
personal, and to the right are codes referring to domestic activities. At this point I am
unsure whether "Studying" is more in the work area or the personal one, so it isplaced between those groups. Also "Friends" and "Food & drink" could relate toeither the personal area or the domestic one, so they are between those groups. The
next step is to explore these particular codes by checking their segments in detailand decide where to place them. Of course, there may well be some themes that
simply don't fit into a simple structure and they can be left on their own in such amap.
It may also be worthwhile attempting to find completely different ways of grouping
the codes, such as things that make you happy versus things that may give you
trouble, or things you can control versus those that appear fixed or imposed byoutside forces. The beauty of this tool is that you can store mutliple maps to reflect
these explorations, and you can return to these ideas multiple times before you
settle on the structure that best reflects your data and your thoughts about it.
For the purposes of this demonstration, I will settle on my first ideas and show how
to put those into effect in my Code System.
First, I finish moving the codes into their final groups. Then I use the "New Code"function to create codes for "Work", "Personal" and "Domestic" as these are myideas for what these groups represent.

In the screenshot above, I am part way through the process of linking the new codes
into the new structure. "Work" and "Personal" have been linked to their respective
subcodes and they have also been made subcodes of "Typical workday". I am still inlinking mode (note the blacker background to its icon in the toolbar), and am in theprocess of linking "Domestic" to "Food & drink" (note the shaded rectangle aroundthese 2 codes). It may take a little practice before this becomes easy for you but
please note how the shaded rectangle, that appears as you start to drag the linking
arrow, helps to clarify which codes you are linking. If you release your mouse button
when there is no shaded rectangle, you will not creat a new link. When I released
the button, after taking this screenshot, the subcode arrow from Typical workday toFood & drink vanished because a code can only be a subcode of one parent at any
one time.
Next, I chose to make all the "Work" subcodes the same colour as their parent, byselecting the "Work" code in the map, clicking on the "Code Color" icon (where I canchange the colour of any object) and when a colour is selected (even the existingone) a pop-up window asks if I want to change the colour of all its subcodes.

- Here is my final
map before
closing thisCreative Coding
session.

The Impact stage:
When you click on the "Finish Creative Coding" button at the left of the menu
ribbon, you see a scary dialog:- This is the only time in MAXQDA
when a map changes your project,
all other maps are passive.

- we need to think about these 3
options.

When you click "Yes", all of the codes you have been working on will be moved tothe top of your Code System and arranged in the groups and colours of the finalmap. This is the process that can only be reversed (if you find you don't like it) byrestoring from a backup, and so MAXQDA now creates an automatic backup before
applying these changes - so in that sense it can be reversed, but it might be costly ifyou do further work before deciding to undo this operation. A copy of the final map
will be stored in MAXMaps as a record of the changes you have made.
When you click "No" there is no change in your project except that a copy of the finalmap will be stored in the regular MAXMaps as a record of your thinking, eventhough you didn't go through with it.
The "Cancel" button is there for the situation where you accidentally clicked the"Finish" button (say while trying to create a new code) and so nothing changes andyou remain in the Creative Coding session.

Some further points to note:
During a Creative Coding session, you can merge two codes into one by dragging
the code you don't want to keep onto the code where you want its segments to besaved. This can be reversed within that session (with an "Undo" button on the menuribbon) but when you finish the session with a "Yes" any code merges you have left
in place will be carried out in your Code System.
A significant advantage of using the Creative Coding tool for the stage of youranalysis where you look for higher-level concepts that can be derived from yourinductive coding work is that you can store multiple intermediate stage maps tokeep a record and evidence of the way your ideas developed. These could be useful
items to include in an appendix to a PhD thesis. You would need to consciously savethese maps from time to time by using the menu option "Save as a Map in
MAXMaps" (please note that the item in the bottom left of the Creative Coding
screen saying "Map last saved automatically ..." is not doing this for you, it is simply
updating the current project file in the background).
You will observe that the new code groups you have created will be listed at the topof the Code System in alphabetical order, not in the visual order you created in yourmap. If that order is important to you then it will be necessary to move them by drag& drop inside the Code System. You may also want to move them back to the part of
the Code System where they were before the reorganization.
Graham Hughes (n.graham.hughes@ntlworld.com)

September 2024